Refrigerating apparatus



July 1, 1930. c. HQLBROOK 1,768,599

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 17, 1927 17 23 Refriyerafof' Cabin e1I2 Drain Pan ,rza

, Q as l Patented July 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orrics WILLIAM C.HOLBROOK, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY,MES1\TE ASSIGNMENTS, TOFRIGIDAIRE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE REFRIGEBATING-APPARATUS Application filed October 17, 1927; Serial No. 2213,5 17.

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly toarrangements for draining the interior of refrigerating cabinets.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved form ofdrain trap for refrigerators which can be re adily 1nspected at alltimes, one which is sanitary and can be readily cleaned, one which isreadily removable to make room for the installation and servicing ofrefrigerating machinery associated with the cabinet, and one which canbe easily removed without spilling water.

Still another object is to provide an arrangement of trap and drain panwhich con serves space and facilitates removal of the drain pan foremptying.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

The single figure of the accompanying drawing shows a vertical sectionof a portion of the refrigerator cabinet including a drain and trapconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

Refrigerating apparatus such as that dis-' closed in the patent to JesseG. King, No. 1,578,114, February 16, 1926, generally includes arefrigerator cabinet having a food storage compartment, which includesor surrounds a cooling compartment, and which is disposed above andinsulated from a machine compartment, which latter containsrefrigerating apparatus for supplying refrigerant to an evaporatordisposed in the cooling compartment. As is well known in the art, suchevaporators gradually become coated with frost and conse quently must bedefrosted from time to time.' The water resulting from the melting frostis ordinarily removed through a drain pipe which passes through thelower wall of the storage compartment and leads to a drain pan orsimilar receptacle placed in the machine compartment. Arrangements ofthis sort heretofore known have several disadvantages. The drain tubeabove mentioned, if open, forms a' path for the conduction of heat fromthe atmosphere into the storage compartment; Consequently it has beenproposed to provide a water Q seal or trap for this conduit. However,since such apparatus is defrosted comparatlvely infrequently, forinstance at intervals of two weeks, and since during this time allof thewater contained in the trap may evaporate, the trap is not effective asa heat seal, and there is no way of detecting when the water is gone.Moreover such traps have presented the following dilemma.

Either the trap has been formed by bends or equivalent devices in thedrain pipe, or it has been formed of a separate container placed outsidethe storage compartment. In

the former case the liquid capacity of the trap is necessarily small'andit has been my experience that all of the water in the trap may be blownout by slamming the door of the cabinet. In the latter case the trap, iflarge enough to hold sufiicient waterto last between defrosting periods,has taken up so much room that itis in the way of installing andservicing the machinery in the machine compartment. The improved trapand drain arrangement described herein eliminates these disadvantages.

In accordance with my invention construction of the drain is as follows.Referring to the drawing, 10 designates a refrigerator cabinet having astorage compartment 11 and a machine compartment 12, separated by a wallincluding insulating material 18 and an impervious lining 14: and facing15. An opening 16 is formed through the wall. Preferably the lining 14has a depression 17 surrounding the opening. A pipe 20 having a shoulder21 at one end is placed in the opening and the wall is clamped betweenthis shoulder and a nut 22 threaded on the opposite end of the pipe.Preferably gaskets 23 of resilient material are placed between theshoulder and nut and the wall.

A container closure in the form of an inverted threaded cup, such as.the familiar metal fruit j ar'cover, is pierced with a hole and placedon the drain pipe. The closure is sealed to the pipe by being clampedbeneath the gasket 23 by the nut 22. If desired a spacer 24 may separatethe closure from the wall. The tube 20 projects beyond the nut to aboutthe level of the edge of the closure. A glass container 26 is threadedinto the closure 25 and thus encloses the end of the drain 20.Preferably the joint between the container and the closure is sealed bya resilient gasket 27 In order to form a liquid trap within thecontainer 26 the tube 20 is provided with a removable extension 28 whichmay be threaded on the end of the tube and which reaches near the bottomofthe container. A removable drain tube 29 connected with the coolingcompartment, not shown, is inserted in the end of the pipe 20, toconduct the defrosting water to the trap.

Water flowing into the container is drained off through a waste conduit30 which passes through and is sealed to the side wall of the closure 25above the top of the container and which has a portion 31 extending intothe container below its top.

Pipe 30 leads to a drain pan to which is supported so as to be readilyremovable on ledges 41 secured to the wall of the cabinet. Preferablythe outer end of the pipe 30 is be low the portion extending into thecontainer 26 so that the Waste pipe forms a siphon. Thus normally waterwill stand in the trap at the level indicated by LL. However, when theevaporator is defrosted the water will gradually rise until the siphonis filled and any excess will be drained off. When defrosting stops thesiphon will drain the water down to the level LL, which is appreciablybelow the top of the container and this permits the removal of thecontainer without spilling any water.

The trap is made of sufficient capacity so that all of the water betweenthe level L-L and the lower end of the pipe 28 will not evaporatebetween ordinary defrosting periods. This requires a container ofconsiderable capacity and one which therefore takes up an appreciableamount of room in the machine compartment. In order not to interferewith the removal of the drain pan the trap is placed at one side of thedrain pan as explained above, so that the drain pan can be slid outalong the ledges 4-1 without any interference whatever. The entire trapis also readily removed by unscrewing type which prevents blowing waterout by opening and closing the door. If the door is closed rapidly so asto drive air out of the cabinet, this will bubble through the water inthe container and escape through the conduit 30. Because the containeris transparent it may be readily inspected and thus the user of therefrigerator can tell at a glance whether it needs cleaning or whetherthere is sufiicient water present to seal the end of the drain pipe. Thetrap is preferably placed near the front of the cabinet, and where it isused on cabinets of the type described, it is at a considerable heightabove the floor. Thus the trap is easily seen. The ready removability ofthe trap not only facilitates cleaning the trap itself but facilitatescleaning of the entire refrigerator cabinet. When the container isremoved the drain pipe may discharge directly to a suitable receptacle.The interior of the cooling compartment may be washed out and the pipe29 removed to permit washing and draining of the storage compartment.Thus all water will be removed and there will be no foul wash waterremaining in the trap after the cleaning operation.

The trap has been described as applied to a mechanical refrigeratorcabinet for the sake of illustration, but it is to be understood thatthe invention is not limited to this type, but is equally applicable toany cabinets which require draining. Moreover, while the form ofembodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferredform, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, allcoming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet having a wall; a drainthrough the wall; and a drain trap including a container closure fixedwith relation to the wall, a

container removably secured to the closure,

and a removable extension connected to the drain and extending near thebottom of the container.

2. A refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet having a wall; a drainthrough the .wall; and a drain trap including a container closure fixedwith relation to the wall, a container removably secured to the closureand a waste conduit for the container entering the container closureabove the top of the container and having a portion extending below thetop of the container.

3. A refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet having a wall; a drainthrough the wall; and a drain trap including a container closure havingvertical and-horizontal portions, the horizontal portion being securedto the wall, a container removably secured to the closure and a wasteconduit for the container passing through the vertical portion of theclosure.

4:. A refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet having a wall; adrain through the wall; and a drain trap including a container beattached to .a drain conduit, and a Waste conduit for said containerpassing through and secured to the closure.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

WILLIAM'C. HOLBROOK.

